On the advantage and applicability of the prone position, in diseases and injuries of the spine, malformations of the chest, hips, &c. : Read at the Westminster Medical Society, May 21, 1836 / by Charles Verral.

  • Verral, Charles, -1843.
Date:
1836
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: On the advantage and applicability of the prone position, in diseases and injuries of the spine, malformations of the chest, hips, &c. : Read at the Westminster Medical Society, May 21, 1836 / by Charles Verral. Source: Wellcome Collection.

Provider: This material has been provided by Royal College of Physicians, London. The original may be consulted at Royal College of Physicians, London.

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    ADVANTAGE AND APPLICABILITY OF THE PRONE POSITION. It is now six years since I was honoured by the presentation of a Medal, from the Society of Arts, Manufactures, and Commerce, for the invention of a prone couch ; yet, although in the transactions of the Society the claims of that invention to the attention of the profession were fully developed, I have reason to believe that from that day to this the model deposited in the rooms at the Adelphi has never been practically referred to ; nor has the position, that I know of, ever been adopted by any individual but myself. I know not that this ought to be much regretted, seeing that I have in the mean time had opportunities of putting the prone position to further proof, and that the success of my experi- ments has led me to devote myself very especially to the management of those dis- eases in which that position has been proved to be so decidedly beneficial. Armed, therefore, with six years of additional ex- perience, during which several important cases have presented themselves to my view, I have resolved, through the medium of this respectable Society, of which I esteem it an honour to be a member, to call the attention of the profession to a position which, more than any other, contributes to the relief and cure of some of the most ter- rible diseases, accidents, and deformities that flesh is heir to. When I first invented the simple board which 1 shall presently have the pleasure of showing you, I little ex- pected to produce the important results which I have now to communicate ; and, now that these results have been realized, although based upon the production of that simple board, I no longer am content to be considered as the mere inventor of a couch, it being my prouder boast that I have been the discoverer of a new and most advan- tageous position; one which I believe to have been hitherto untried and unthought of; and one which will ultimately, in a great variety of cases, supersede its opposite, the supine position, in which patients have hi- therto most usually been laid. As the case which first led me to the in- vention of the couch will exemplify almost all the uses and advantages of it, 1 shall beg to call your attention to that case before I proceed to show you the rude and simple apparatus which 1 devised for its relief. A young gentleman, aged 16, had for two years been afflicted with diseased spine. The complaint had come upon him during a tour in Scotland ; and on his return from thence, he made a stay of some months at Hinckley, that he might be under the care of Mr. Chessher. As he was becoming worse, he at length proceeded to London, and his friends were advised by the medical gentle- men who were there consulted, to take him to the sea-side. Lodgings were taken at Seafoid, where I then resided; and in No- vember 1825 he was accidentally placed under my care, in consequence of his having been attacked with scarlet fever. He had previously been attended occasionally by a medical friend of the family residing some distance off; but having been thus called upon I was of course made acquainted with the disease under which he had so long been suffering. After his recovery from scarlet fever, 1 therefore frequently saw him ; and so great a sufferer it has rarely been my lot to behold. He had long had an abscess discharging most profusely in the right groin. There was disease and a very large posterior curvature of the lumbar vertebrae, with which the abscess no doubt communi- cated. He was exceedingly emaciated, and the skin so readily gave way that every part upon which he had pressed but for a few hours had become excoriated. He had a large sore on the edge of the sacrum, an- other on the point of the protruded vertebrae, and another on each hip. In bed therefore, whether lying supine or on the sides, he suffered extreme torture, alleviated but for a very few hours by the administration of